over serious human rights concerns. By doing so, Canada becomes the first and onlycountry to take such a stand.

In announcing his boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) inColombo, Stephen Harper did not pull his punches. Canada, he said, is “deeply concerned”about the situation in Sri Lanka.“The absence of accountability for the serious violations of human rights and internationalhumanitarian standards during and after the civil war is unacceptable,” he said.His decision was announced as

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revealed that the Commonwealth secretarygeneral had failed to inform the group’s leaders of independent legal advice he had receivedcasting doubt on Sri Lanka’s suitability to host the prestigious summit.Independent lawyers had informed him six months ago that in their view, the regime was in breach of its own constitution.The British government confirmed in May that David Cameron and Foreign Secretary WilliamHague would attend the CHOGM.

, at least 40,000 Tamil civilians – possibly nearly doublethat number – were killed in the final weeks of Sri Lanka’s 27-year-long civil war, which endedin May 2009. Allegations of war crimes go to the very top of the regime of Sri LankanPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa, which has steadfastly refused to allow an independentinvestigation.At the end of August, Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights again called for an inquiry, stating bluntly – after a week-long visit – that the island republic, beloved of foreigntourists, was becoming increasingly authoritarian.Democracy and the rule of law had been eroded, she said.Today, the Canadian prime minister joined her in citing a litany of concerns: the impeachmentof Sri Lanka’s chief justice this year, the “ongoing reports” of intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, disappearances and allegations of extrajudicial killings.

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Kept secret’

Mr Harper said the Sri Lankan government “has failed to uphold the Commonwealth’s corevalues” – and it was for that reason, he said, that he had decided not to attend.But read between the lines and what the prime minister is saying is that CommonwealthSecretary General Kamalash Sharma is, in his view, guilty of undermining the very values setout in the 54-nation group’s new charter, signed by the Queen in March.

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has obtained correspondence which show that the secretary general believed as long ago as January this year, that the impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice,Shirani Bandaranayake, “ran counter” to Commonwealth values.A senior anonymous Commonwealth source has also revealed that a legal opinion from withinthe Commonwealth secretariat and two independent legal opinions – all of them sought by thesecretary general – concluded that the impeachment was unconstitutional.The source says: “It seems this knowledge was kept secret.”

Asleep at the wheel?

This raises very serious questions as to why the secretary general allowed the Commonwealthsummit to be hosted by Sri Lanka at all. Mr Sharma has repeatedly refused requests for aninterview – but in light of these revelations, we will today submit a fresh request.In May, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen, who is the Head of theCommonwealth,